Since the birth of automobile, lighting is an important topic of automobile driving safety. From the early incandescent lamp, halogen lamp to xenon lamp, and then to the LED lamp which is becoming the new favorite of the market, the lamp industry has developed for more than 100 years.

Nowadays, lamps are not only required to meet the lighting demand. According to the planning of the Ministry of industry and information technology, by the end of 2015, automobile lighting needs to achieve the carbon dioxide emission reduction target. In addition, new waves such as safety and intelligence have also flocked, which provide a new wind vane for the development of the lamp market.

Tripartite market pattern

Looking at the market, at present, the lamp market has basically formed a tripartite pattern dominated by halogen lamp, xenon lamp (HID) and LED lamp.

It has been more than half a century since the halogen lamp used in car lamps in 1960, and it can be used in cars for a long time. Its great advantage is that it has formed a market economy of scale, which makes its manufacturing cost relatively cheap, which is also a major reason why it can still exist in the market. The disadvantages of halogen lamp are self-evident: low light output efficiency and short irradiation distance.

Xenon headlights (English abbreviation for hid, i.e. high intensity gas discharge lamps) have been applied to automobiles since the early 1990s. Its advantage is that its illumination brightness is twice that of halogen lamps. The efficiency of converting electric energy into light energy is 80% higher than that of halogen lamps, but the energy consumption is only 2 / 3 of that of halogen lamps, and the service life can reach 10 times. In addition, since the light color emitted by xenon headlights is almost the same as that of sunlight, xenon headlights can create better visual conditions. Therefore, at present, xenon lamps still occupy a dominant position in the automotive lighting market.

In recent years, there has been a new favorite in the lamp Market - LED light source technology. LED (English name is light emitting diode), that is, light emitting diode. It is a kind of semiconductor electronic component that can emit light. LED lamp is widely used in automobile field in recent years because of its high brightness, rich color types, low power consumption, small volume and long service life. As the representative of a new generation of energy conservation and environmental protection, LED has begun to replace xenon lamp. According to the data, the efficiency of LED light output has advantages over xenon lamp and halogen lamp. The light efficiency of a 1000 Watt halogen lamp is roughly the same as that of a 200 Watt LED lamp, and the service life is up to 30000 hours, which is 10 times that of xenon lamp. Recently, the leaders of lamp suppliers such as OSRAM, Haila and Philips are also increasing the research and development of LED technology. It can be said that led is becoming a new blue ocean in the lamp market.

The popularity of LED headlights can be expected, but it faces many constraints

Before 2010, the average growth rate of domestic LED automotive lighting market was 13%, while the growth rate of LED lamp Market in recent years was more than 40%. It is predicted that this year, the LED lighting market will take off sharply, and the scale of China's LED industry may reach 500 billion. Therefore, the promotion of LED automotive lamps has become a big cake publicly optimistic in the industry, and its future prospects are promising.

There is no doubt that led is favored because of its environmental protection, energy saving, rich color and many other advantages. In fact, it is true that led lamps have been widely used as automobile auxiliary lamps. In many places, such as turn signal lamps and fog lamps, LED lamps have replaced other forms of light sources. For some manufacturers, the cost of research and development of LED lamps is three times higher than that of traditional manufacturers, but there is no doubt that the cost of research and development of LED lamps is even twice as high as that of traditional manufacturers.

In addition to the cost, according to relevant industry insiders, the complexity of LED system is also a major challenge that hinders this technology from entering the mature stage: reliable system, effective heat dissipation management, compact optical design and extremely complex drive. These technical barriers need to be further broken through.

Therefore, as far as the domestic market is concerned, if led wants to completely replace traditional lamps, it still needs a long transition period. At present, LED headlights are mainly equipped on a few high-end models in the market (represented by Audi). Among them, LED light sources are mostly used for high-level brake lamps and side turn signals, while headlamp lighting has not yet formed a mature industrial model due to problems such as lighting distance and brightness.

Although the cost, technology and regulations of LED light source have not been solved, it is believed that with the continuous decline of LED cost and the synchronous improvement of technology in the future, LED will be more widely and comprehensively applied in the automotive field.

Intelligent headlamp technology may lead industrial change

In the field of automotive lighting, with the rapid development of automotive industry technology, its development direction also tends to be intelligent and green. Laser headlamp, intelligent LED headlamp, matrix LED headlamp light source technology... More and more new technologies are emerging, and a new change in the lamp industry is about to begin.

It is understood that the intelligent headlamp technology in the market today is mainly led by German models. For example, Mercedes Benz's new generation S-class intelligent LED headlights have active steering lighting, turning auxiliary lighting, rural roads, highways and dense fog modes. The unique shading function can erase the light camouflage of vehicles traveling in opposite or same directions. Each headlamp assembly contains up to 56 LEDs, which can be lit separately Turn off or adjust the brightness; The illumination of BMW I8 laser headlamp lighting system can reach 170 lumens per watt. Its length is only 10 microns, and the irradiation distance is twice that of traditional LED. Compared with LED technology, the greater improvement of laser technology lies in its integration. It is only one percent of the volume of LED, but it has 1000 times the brightness. Therefore, laser headlamp has been regarded as the "reasonable next step" after LED headlamp, and its future development has also been unanimously favored by the industry; Known as the "lamp factory", Audi's ability in automobile headlamp technology is obvious to all. At present, Audi adopts matrix LED headlamp light source technology in its modified A8 / S8. It is understood that this technology is composed of 25 LEDs, and each LED monomer can automatically turn on or off independently. It is worth mentioning that the matrix LED headlights of A8 / S8 are also combined with the satellite navigation system. Before the driver starts to turn the steering wheel and the vehicle enters the corner, the matrix LED headlights will adjust the illumination angle of the light source in advance, bringing a safer and easier driving experience to the driver.

It can be found that from the development of lamp technology at this stage, led and laser technology are gradually stepping on the stage of popularization of lamps. The application of these two technologies also makes lamps not only more energy-saving, higher brightness and longer irradiation distance, but also more avant-garde in shape. In the next stage, the combination of lamp group and electronic system will be the general trend. It can be predicted that a technical war of intelligent headlamp is coming